The present invention is directed to an optical cable having a plurality of bundles of elements with each bundle comprising a plurality of light waveguides arranged within a deformable protective sheath.
An optical cable having a plurality of bundles with each bundle having a plurality of light waveguides arranged within a deformable protective sheath is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,541, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference and which claims priority from German Application No. 32 47 090. The individual light waveguides are accommodated loosely and independent of one another in the inside of a common protective sheath. A cushioning protective thread that is supported against the inside wall of the protective sheath is wound around all of these light waveguides.
A number of demands must be met for structuring optical cables comprising a great plurality of light waveguides, for example for local telephone networks. These demands include a small cable cross section which is desirable so that the fiber density should be selected as great as possible. The manufacturing cost must be low and, therefore, the manufacturing machines dare not be expensive. In addition, the distinguishability and manipulability of the light waveguide should be assured to an optimally far-reaching degree and a good branchability of the light waveguide should be guaranteed given an optimally short splicing time.